Sky Sports’ EFL pundit Lee Hendrie believes that Wayne Rooney has the potential to offer a real spark to Derby County and can help them find greater consistency over the second half of the campaign.

Rooney will be available to make his debut for the Rams this month, having had to wait for his chance to take to the field in a Derby shirt.

The ex-England forward joined Phillip Cocu’s side in the summer from DC United but the deal meant that he played the remainder of the MLS season before linking up with his new club.

Derby are in need of more creativity in the final third, with the Rams struggling at times to both create and take chances, especially away from home, having scored just once on their travels in the league since the beginning of October – and Rooney could aid their productivity in the final third.

QUIZ: Can you name the Derby County XI that lost to QPR in the 2014 play-off final?

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hendrie suggested that Rooney’s arrival can help Cocu’s side improve on their inconsistent first half of the season and help push them up the table.

He said: "I think this season has been very inconsistent under Cocu and you just feel they need something that's going to give them a big lift going into the New Year.

"The way the league is at the moment you can't even rule them out having a good run and maybe sneak into the play-offs.

"A key figure in Wayne Rooney is going to absolutely raise the roof, everyone has been so excited as to what Wayne will bring to the Championship. Who would have thought he would ever have come and played in the Championship, but it just speaks volumes of how good this league really is.

"And Derby, what a capture it is and I think it will give everyone a massive boost at Derby County, and hopefully they can finish the season on a high and have a strong run in and who knows and if you've got someone like Wayne leading the line, he's always going to score goals in this league."

The Verdict

Rooney’s arrival at Derby will certainly provide everyone around the club with a real lift ahead of the second half of the campaign, with the Englishman bringing the sort of experience and quality to Cocu’s side which has at times been lacking in the first half of the season.

His arrival on the pitch will also help Cocu continue to integrate the club’s talented youth team players into his first team, with the likes of Max Bird and Jason Knight both establishing themselves as key players for the Rams over the festive period. Rooney’s experience should only help them continue to improve.

Cocu will be hopeful that having secured a 2-1 win against Charlton Athletic last time out, Rooney’s arrival may allow his side to go on a more consistent run over the rest of the campaign, although it might be asking too much of him to help them get into the play-offs.